Lastqueenjess

I am a little over a month sober. This is the first time I have chose recovery so I can't say that I have experienced anything like this before. I find myself scared and on edge for no apparent reason. I get really tense and my heart starts racing and I tremble on the inside. When this happens it just gets worse.

Please tell me I am not alone.

Kallistia

I get like this without alcohol, before I started drinking daily, (and even after becoming a raging drunk) the sickening terror. You're having an anxiety attack, my personal advice is to speak to a medical professional...preferably one who specializes I'm alcohol recovery. It may be a symptom of your recovery...or it may have been an issue that the drinking was masking.

cusper

You are definitely not alone! I had terrible anxiety especially the first month sober. I still do however not as frequent as I did before. Actually like Kallistia said I had anxiety before I drank as well. Only it did get much worse as the drinking progressed. Now I am close to 6 months sober and still deal with anxiety and am reading what I can to figure out how to deal with it properly. Congratulations on a month sober! It really is the hardest the first few months. Giving up caffeine is hard but it really helps with anxiety too.

Chicagoan

Hi Jess,
Guys get them too, believe me.

justinJustQuit

Simply sit back, breathe through only your nose, and feel the air coming into your lungs. Know that you are getting healthier without booze. Breathe slowly and feel your breath.

I have had this feeling for a week with no alcohol. If you concentrate on being calm it will help

Dee74

It's fairly common part of early recovery.
If you're concerned about it, do see your Dr.

D

carlingford

Well done lastqueenjess, yes I get too at 25 days clean, I believe it is part of PAWS (post alcohol withdrawal syndrome) which can last up to 2 years or longer but depends on the person and abuse length etc. For some people it can fix itself in 2-3 Months as the brain readjusts to the shock of not getting a fix and gets easier to cope with. Also as Kallistia said above it may have been an issue that the drinking was masking. so best see a doc. well done again

Mentium

I am prone to anxiety and have been all my life, even prior to drinking problematically. However over the years as I drank more and ultimately became dependent the law of diminishing returns kicked in and I was ultra-anxious all the time except when I was actually drunk. I guess this was the result of being an anxious person to begin with plus the toxicity of the alcohol, the daily hangover and withdrawal (I only drank evenings). A nasty combination.

I have begun to realise over the last nine months or so, which is the time I have seriously started to tackle my drinking, that recovery really is more than just stopping if one wishes to reduce the chances of relapsing. For many of us alcohol serves a helpful function, at least part of the time (i.e. when drunk) in temporarily relieving a whole range of potential demons. Learning other ways to deal with those seems to me to be the key to avoiding relapses. Easier said than done of course.

Drinking is of course no solution to these things at all!

tim68

Has anyone had anxiety brought on the first time in your life BECAUSE of the alcohol? I never had anxiety in my life. But the last few years of my heavy drinking I started developing panic attacks on occasion. These would occur the next day or two after drinking heavily the night before. It would hit me sometimes while riding my motorcycle which I have done for 15 years. All the sudden I would get voices in my head saying "your going to wreck" or "you won't make this curve and you'll go off the road and crash". Crazy stuff like that. My heart would race and my body would shake in fear. Totally irrational fear that I've never experienced before.

Anyone know what I'm talking about?

carlingford

Hi tim68 yes have experienced similar, I call it "the little men talking" I normally get it when facing into a stressful situation like chairing an important meeting or in a meeting and suddenly my boss or client asks me to explain!! and I normally wing it, while this could be classified as normal stress it is 100 more time stressful if detoxing or still with the demon drink playing games in your head, I also get clammy hands and some tingling/body. Don't know if you know what I mean? but this time with my current and final detox (25 days now) and when my brain recovers I hope that "the little men" stop talking to me and I can get on with my beautiful family and life.

Joe Nerv

I never had any panic attacks before I started drinking. I'm pretty sure pot smoking helped them along. Had anxiety my whole life, but the "attacks", so to speak, came only after I started drinking and drugging.

There are lots of things that can be done to learn how to live without anxiety and panic attacks. Anxiety is a part of life, it comes, it goes. With some people it stays a while. The more severe attacks can be conquered, but it takes change. It takes doing things differently. Like many physical ailments, some people treat this with medication, others do it holistically. Contrary to popular belief we are not victims of chemical imbalances that can ONLY be treated with medication. I'd say a lot more regarding this, but I found I need to be careful whenever the subject of medication and doctors comes up. I'd be happy to share lots more information via PM, if anyone is interested. I found some wonderful resources. The sticky in the mental health section here I found also offers a lot of useful links.

I myself trust only what blood tests, urine tests, x-rays, and specific other tests tell me when I go to a doctor. All else I'm told is what the doctor has been taught, or their best guess - which in my experience has often been completely off, and would have caused me more harm than good had I listened.

I'm not advising anyone what to do, and I'm not an MD. Many people feel the complete opposite. Ultimately, we all need to make our own decisions. Hopefully, educated ones.

Chicagoan

My panic attacks occurred when my drinking
increased. They would kick in for no particular
reason. In detox I had quite a few of them.
I'm on Zoloft, I do not know if that is helping,
but haven't had one for over a week.

Mentium

Just to add to a comment above - I smoked pot for a few years in my late teens and early 20s. I'm pretty sure I had a mild case of cannabis induced psychosis. I say 'mild' but my anxiety levels was 15 on a scale of 10 for a year and a half. I was referred to a psychiatrist at the time but I didn't mention the pot as it was big time illegal then and in any case the potential negative mental health issues had not been identified. I think one of the reasons I started to drink too much was to relieve the anxiety. It worked in the short term but in due course it only made things worse of course. I realised this quite early on the first time I had a break from drinking literally decades ago now and my anxiety reduced dramatically. One would have thought I would have learned the lesson, but I soon started to drink again.

Lastqueenjess

I'm afraid this is something I will have to learn to cope with on my own. The medication my doctor recommends putting me on is a narcotic and that would be the worst mistake on my part.

carlingford

I hear you Lastqueenjess, its not easy this recovery thing, on my 30th day clean yesterday,I felt great and full of energy and no headache or tremors, first time in a Month this has happened and then bang !!! all back today full force today, feel as if back to square one, ohh Lord give me patience will this monster,,, will I ever get better and as you say Lastqueenjess I believe we will just have to accept and learn how to deal with it ourselves, HOPE YOU GET WELL SOON, Have a nice day all.

WanderingBear

Hi Jess. I have the good fortune of being blessed with two biological parents who both had anxiety issues of their own, and decided to breed with each other to produce their own little hybrid bundle of anxiety joy- ME! I've had it since I was a child, and it was exacerbated by the alcoholic environment I grew up in. I never even knew what I was feeling was anxiety until I took Psych 101 in college. It was there, right between the pages of that textbook where I finally figured out what I had been feeling.

While I have free-floating anxiety, I also have had severe panic attacks before. In fact, I've been to the hospital by ambulance twice in my life due to them. The first time was because I got very weak in the legs and started shaking and panicking. I had drank quite a bit the night before which I think had something to do with it. I was like 24 at the time. The second time I was like 34, and I thought I was having a heart attack. A quad shot latte on top of too much stress did a number on me as I was driving down the road. I pulled over and dialed 911. Both times I felt extremely embarrassed over the whole ordeal. I have not had a really bad panic attack for quite a while, and I hope I never do again. I know how uncomfortable they can be. Sorry you are dealing with them. Breathing does help a lot.